


Next One's on Me

by JustAnotherMarvelGirl



Series: Our Love Is Stronger Than the Universe [29]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/M, Meet-Cute, Tattoo Artist!Wanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherMarvelGirl/pseuds/JustAnotherMarvelGirl
Summary: Accepting a wager from Tony was a bad idea on a good day.Making a bet with him while under the influence of alcohol was a downright terrible one.And yet, as the beautiful tattoo artist left the counter and started walking towards him, Vision suddenly thought that the whole thing might have been a very good idea after all.
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: Our Love Is Stronger Than the Universe [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880671
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30
Collections: AUgust 2020, Scarlet Vision AU-gust





	Next One's on Me

**Author's Note:**

> Written for AU-gust day 29: Tattoo Parlor AU
> 
> This was actually the first AU-gust prompt I've written and the one that made me decide to start doing them in the first place.
> 
> I hope it brings a smile to your faces in these hard times.
> 
> P.S. This probably could have also been rated as T, but I'm playing it safe with M.

Accepting a wager from Tony was a bad idea on a good day.

Making a bet with him while under the influence of alcohol was a downright terrible one.

Vision forced his eyes to move from Tony's ear-to-ear grin and onto the flashing neon sign above him.

 _The Twin Tattoos_ , it read, and Vision gulped slowly.

“No backing out now,” Tony teased as he nudged him inside. “What will you get, Robo-boy? Hmm, something cheesy? Like a heart or a butterfly, or, I know, a small robot!”

Vision would have rolled his eyes but they were currently stuck on the woman standing behind the counter.

Her emerald eyes had him entranced, and he couldn’t answer Tony even if he wanted to.

“What happened, cat’s got your tongue? Oh!” Tony exclaimed once his eyes followed Vision’s.

His wide grin transformed into a smirk as he sauntered towards her and held out his hand.

“Stark. Tony Stark.”

“Wanda,” she replied, in a voice that sent shivers all over Vision’s body, but he could swear her eyes stayed on him throughout the exchange, despite his best friend's flaunting of his last name and, therefore, wealth.

He felt a sensation akin to butterflies in his stomach and he was fairly certain it had nothing to do with the drinks he had consumed earlier that night.

The magic in her eyes finally released him when she, somewhat reluctantly, turned to Tony.

“What will you be getting?” she asked with a classic customer service smile and Tony laughed.

“Oh, nothing, but this guy will,” he answered, pointing his thumb above his shoulder.

Wanda’s smile turned into a grin and Vision felt blood rush into his cheeks.

How could he be so completely taken with her already?

As she left the counter and started walking towards him, Vision suddenly thought that the whole thing might have been a very good idea after all.

He felt a prickle at the back of his neck and turned to see a man glaring at him, but then Wanda reached him and his full attention was back on her again.

“And what is your name?” she inquired, raising one elegant eyebrow.

Vision had to clear his throat to find his voice again before he somehow managed to mumble his name.

It could have been wishful thinking, but he was almost certain he heard her whisper something along the lines of: “I agree.”

“Is this your first time?” she asked, louder this time, her lips curving into a half-smirk, and Vision could do nothing but slowly nod.

Her smile widened and she winked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. So, what will it be? And where?”

Despite all of Tony’s teasing, Vision truly hadn’t had the time to decide what kind of a tattoo to get. And he certainly hadn’t considered the possibility of the tattoo artist being so attractive he’d lose his ability to think.

“Uh, your choice,” he blurted out before his brain had the time to consider the implications.

“My choice?”

The smile on her face turned into a wide grin, maybe just a little terrifying, and Vision gulped loudly.

“Do you have any idea how much power you’ve just given me? How embarrassing design and placement I could choose?” she asked, stalking around him as she searched for the best place for placing her art.

Her fingers accidentally brushed against the back of his hand and Vision’s breath rushed out of his chest at the electrifying feeling that spread through him from the brief contact.

He wondered if she felt it too.

She came to a stand in front of him after making a full circle and her smile turned gentle again.

“Lucky for you, I’ll be merciful,” she assured him, before leading him towards the back room and the reclining chair inside it. “Besides, I would never put something as permanent as a tattoo on you without your approval.”

Vision smiled at that. He was glad that she, at least, was thinking clearly and reminded him that a decision like that shouldn’t be made lightly.

“Alright then, what do you suggest?” he asked once he settled down in the chair.

“Ok, first of all, I need to know your budget,” she countered and Vision chuckled.

“The budget’s not an issue, he’s making me do this so he’s paying,” Vision responded, grinning and pointing in the general direction of where he thought his friend was.

“Noted,” Wanda replied with a smirk before her eyes settled on Vision. “I think an armband tattoo around your bicep would look nice. It would draw attention to the muscle there and you could hide it with most shirts if you needed to.”

Her eyes were appraising the muscle in question as she spoke and Vision felt his throat run dry.

“Yes,” he managed to croak out. He couldn’t stop the shiver running through him when she tried to roll up the sleeve of his button-up shirt to inspect the area. It ended up being too tight at the top and she shook her head slightly.

“This won’t work.”

Vision watched as a frown marred her face and all he wanted to do was to make her smile again.

“You know, most customers come here much more prepared, with loose-fitting or layered clothes and an idea in their head of what they want,” she said, but the tone of her voice and the light in her eyes let him know she was teasing.

“Yes, but I would imagine most of your customers don’t come here because they lost a bet,” he teased back, a grin on his face, and she laughed, muttering: “you’d be surprised,” before shaking her head again.

“In any case, this will have to go off before we begin,” she said, tugging lightly at his shirt, and Vision was certain he saw her blush.

He averted his gaze from her face and started unbuttoning his shirt but her hand on his stopped him.

“After the paperwork,” she whispered, and Vision barely mustered the strength to nod, as all of his focus seemed to be on the place her soft fingers laid across his.

He needed to get a hang of himself, this was her job and he was just another customer, but the looks she was giving him felt like so much more than professional courtesy. Perhaps it was the influence of alcohol, or perhaps it was just _her_ , but Vision found the pull impossible to resist.

He finally allowed his eyes to connect with hers again, knowing that some of what he felt would shine through them, and Wanda beamed.

They held each other’s gaze for a few more moments until Vision couldn’t take it anymore and averted his eyes.

Either his ears were deceiving him or he heard a silent chuckle. In any case, it was a wonderful sound.

“Let’s choose the size and details so I know how much to charge your friend. I was thinking something elegant, not too thick, especially since this is your first tattoo. How about a Celtic design, like this?” she asked, drawing his attention back to her.

Vision looked at the drawing she was showing and instantly knew it was the right choice. He could envision it on his arm and found that he could live with having it on his body for the rest of his life. In fact, he even smiled at the thought.

“I like that one,” he confirmed and Wanda hummed in approval.

“It’s settled then,” she said before asking for his ID. “You can stay here or come with me, that depends on how comfortable you are in my chair.”

Her sweet laughter rang through the room as he went through his options. He could either go do the paperwork with her and face Tony’s incessant teasing about his reactions to Wanda or stay here and postpone the teasing for after the tattoo was done.

He chose the latter.

Vision decided to take his shirt off while she was gone and laid it over the back of the chair. He browsed through the brochure with some of the more popular designs until he felt her eyes on him.

He turned just in time to know she had been admiring the muscles in his back and saw her blush at being caught looking. The corners of his lips tipped upwards as she averted her gaze and cleared her throat before she spoke again.

“Um, your friend insisted I gave you a message. ‘Code red,’ whatever that means.”

Vision let out a chuckle at that and shook his head.

“Nothing important,” he assured her, sitting back down. It was Tony’s way of letting him know that he would pester him day and night if he didn’t ask for Wanda’s number.

Wanda raised an eyebrow at that, but let it go.

The moment she started preparing his skin with alcohol and a razor the fleeting glances were replaced by laser-sharp focus on what she was doing.

The focus was broken only after she had finished applying the stencil and Vision got to inspect the way the tattoo would look on his skin before she actually started tattooing him.

Despite never having imagined himself with a tattoo, he definitely liked what he saw.

“This will probably sting a little,” she warned with a compassionate smile and Vision nodded, bracing himself for the pain.

The sensation was uncomfortable, but not as painful as he had expected it to be. She started speaking again, probably hoping to distract him until he got used to the feeling, as she explained that she started at the least painful part and that he shouldn’t be embarrassed to ask for a break if he needed it.

Vision spent most of the time in what seemed like an enchanted circle of watching the expression on Wanda’s face, looking at the progress she made on his arm and staring at the ceiling.

She looked extremely cute while focused like that, head tilted to one side and pulling her bottom lip between her teeth every once in a while. Thoughts about wanting to graze her lip with his own teeth would be his cue to stop looking at her face, but looking at her hands wasn’t helping much either.

She had a long-sleeved shirt on and he could only see a small tattoo on her wrist, but that didn’t stop his traitorous mind from wishing to discover if she had any more and where exactly they were placed.

Thoughts like that always made him avert his gaze towards the ceiling, but it would soon inevitably be drawn towards her face again.

After what seemed like eternity she finally seemed to be nearing the end and Vision didn’t know whether to feel relief or despair.

He somehow managed to feel both.

“You know, most people can’t stop at just one,” Wanda stated with a wink once she was done applying the ointment and the bandage.

“Can’t they now?” he asked, silently wondering how many tattoos he would be willing to get just to be able to see her again.

“Nope,” she replied, popping her ‘P’ before her lips pulled into a smirk. “Don’t forget to take good care of it, here’s a written reminder in case you forget some of the steps,” she said, handing him the instructions.

As if he could forget _anything_ she had said.

They left the backroom to find a very bored Tony who brightened up at the sight of his friend.

“If I had known this would take so long I’d have chosen something else for the bet,” he complained. “Where is this tattoo anyway?”

“His arm,” Wanda responded, “but you can’t see it. He’s not allowed to take off the bandage for at least a few hours.”

“Oh, fine,” Tony sighed. “I hope you tattooed my name or face on,” he added, smirking again, before nodding towards Wanda and mimicking a phone with his hands once she briefly turned around.

Vision just shook his head and went to say goodbye, thanking her for the amazing work. He lingered, finding it difficult to walk away, until he steeled his resolve and turned around.

He wanted to ask her out on a date, wanted to ask for her number, but he couldn’t make himself say it.

This was her workplace, and he would never assume things, regardless of how much she seemed to reciprocate his attraction to her.

He was almost outside of the door when he heard her voice again.

“Hey Vision? Next one’s on me.”

* * *

“You’re an idiot.”

Vision sighed as his best friend plopped down on the chair in front of him.

It had been three days since he had gotten the tattoo, three days since he had been able to think of something that wasn’t _her_.

“I mean you two were oozing sex appeal. I’ve only had to watch you together for like five minutes and I felt like a voyeur. No clothes were shed, but you were basically stripping each other with your eyes. And you-” Tony paused, poking him in the chest, “-simply-” another poke, “-let. Her. Go. Without even trying.”

Vision fought the blush rising to his cheeks. If Tony only knew that he had spent hours shirtless next to her…

“Do you really think she likes me?” Vision asked, running his hand through his hair.

“Do I think she… That’s it. Out. Out of the house. Right now. If you don’t go there again you’ll regret it forever.”

“You can’t kick me out of my own house,” Vision complained but stood up nonetheless. He went to check his appearance in the mirror and make sure to apply his favorite cologne and deodorant before reluctantly leaving the house.

He took a deep breath before entering the tattoo parlor. However, instead of Wanda, he was met with the same man from that night, scowling at him.

“She’s not here!” he snarled, making Vision sink into himself despite being taller than the man.

“Who’s not…” a voice came from the back and suddenly Wanda appeared through the door.

Her eyes widened in surprise once she saw him and she turned to the man with a glare.

“Pietro!” The rest of her words were said in a language Vision couldn’t understand, but it was clear she was not pleased with what the man had done.

“Come,” she commanded, moving past Vision and out of the parlor.

Vision felt his legs follow her without him consciously giving them the order, but he couldn’t deny her even if he wanted to.

“I’m sorry about my brother, he can be a real ass sometimes,” she said, sighing, before a smirk appeared on her face.

She leaned closer to him, visibly inhaling his scent but not touching him, and Vision felt his fingers itching to reach out towards her.

“So, have you come back for more, or for me?” she whispered in a husky voice.

Vision let out the breath he had been holding and finally let his hand rest on the small of her back before replying.

“Both.”


End file.
